Precious Gems of Yoga

Each time I study with a new teacher I see my yoga differently, so I see life differently. Yesterday my new teacher described the core of one's yoga practice as like a diamond, with so many different facets each reflecting a different light, or a different aspect of the manifest self. Each facet reflects to us what we need to work on or with and so the diamond of our practice lights the way to deeper realisations.
I read once, and I'm afraid I cannot attribute this analogy to an author - it may be Paramahansa Yogananda, that the yogi is like a diamond: pure, clear and filled with light which reflects from every surface, but in essence hard and strong with impenetrable will - where love is the will.
In my practice, which still evolves rapidly after 14 years, I am truly absorbing that which I have always taught to my students. I am learning to back off. Finally. Rationally it has of course been very easy for me to understand the precept of respecting one's body, respecting one's limits and working at a pace suited to the body's needs. As a classic overachiever it is difficult for me to recognise my limits and to be sensitive to the ever so fine line between pushing boundaries and pushing one's sacro-iliac joint out of alignment.
I am a true Pitta (Ayurvedic fire type) in nature and over some years of being conscious of the idiosynchrocies of Pitta and of noting the patterns of cause and effect of environment, sustenance and activity on my constitution, I am nearing a satisfactory strategy to balance aggravated Pitta. However, my biggest sticking point in yoga practice has been my determination to work, and the pleasure and fun I take from bending, stretching and balancing my body. A dangerous combination.
My new teacher is taking me back right to the beginning. With my back injury, that is where I belong. I am a beginner - just because I can straighten my legs in a forward bend it doesn't mean have to. The absorption of this information is like Ben and Jerry's for my being; I have been telling myself to respect my limits for years and numerous teachers of hundreds of led classes have been telling "the class" that for years, yet it took one teacher to sit down next to me and say it to me, yes me, not anyone else in the room! I don't have to straighten my legs or touch the floor in triangle pose or have the longest base in warrior 1.

Yes, what a relief. Now I can finally feel my yoga more deeply, communicate more freely with my body, listen more peacefully to the rhythm of my life and the life which pulses vibrantly around me. I have uncovered a little more of the path I have been seeking yet could not reveal. Every yoga practice of my life has been a revelation, another facet of the diamond. With deep, deep gratitude I begin the next chapter in the story of the diamond, which will take me incrementally closer to the truth; the smooth, spherical crystal of truth at the heart of the Ben and Jerry's.